WASHINGTON: The State Department is weighing giving $500 million to the new foundation providing aid to war-shattered Gaza, according to two knowledgeable sources and two former US officials, a move that would involve the US more deeply in a controversial aid effort that has been beset by violence and chaos.
The sources and former US officials, all of whom requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said that money for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) would come from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which is being folded into the US State Department.
The plan has met resistance from some US officials concerned with the deadly shootings of Palestinians near aid distribution sites and the competence of the GHF, the two sources said.
The GHF, which has been fiercely criticized by humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations, for an alleged lack of neutrality, began distributing aid last week amid warnings that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli aid blockade, which was lifted on May 19 when limited deliveries were allowed to resume.
The foundation has seen senior personnel quit and had to pause handouts twice this week after crowds overwhelmed its distribution hubs.
The State Department and GHF did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Reuters has been unable to establish who is currently funding the GHF operations, which began in Gaza last week. The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to transport aid into Gaza for distribution at so-called secure distribution sites.
On Thursday, Reuters reported that a Chicago-based private equity firm, McNally Capital, has an “economic interest” in the for-profit US contractor overseeing the logistics and security of GHF’s aid distribution hubs in the enclave.
While US President Donald Trump’s administration and Israel say they don’t finance the GHF operation, both have been pressing the United Nations and international aid groups to work with it.
The US and Israel argue that aid distributed by a long-established UN aid network was diverted to Hamas. Hamas has denied that.
USAID has been all but dismantled. Some 80 percent of its programs have been canceled and its staff face termination as part of President Donald Trump’s drive to align US foreign policy with his “America First” agenda.
One source with knowledge of the matter and one former senior official said the proposal to give the $500 million to GHF has been championed by acting deputy USAID Administrator Ken Jackson, who has helped oversee the agency’s dismemberment.
The source said that Israel requested the funds to underwrite GHF’s operations for 180 days.
The Israeli government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The two sources said that some US officials have concerns with the plan because of the overcrowding that has affected the aid distribution hubs run by GHF’s contractor, and violence nearby.
Those officials also want well-established non-governmental organizations experienced in running aid operations in Gaza and elsewhere to be involved in the operation if the State Department approves the funds for GHF, a position that Israel likely will oppose, the sources said.
Gaza hospital officials have said more than 80 people had been shot dead and hundreds wounded near GHF’s distribution points between June 1-3.
Since launching its operation, the GHF has opened three hubs, but over the past two days, only two of them have been functioning.
Witnesses blamed Israeli soldiers for the killings. The Israeli military said it fired warning shots on two days, while on Tuesday it said soldiers had fired at Palestinian “suspects” advancing toward their positions.
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US mulls giving millions to controversial Gaza aid foundation, sources say
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US mulls giving millions to controversial Gaza aid foundation, sources say
- The plan has met resistance from some US officials concerned with the deadly shootings of Palestinians near aid distribution sites and the competence of the GHF, the two sources said
‘Enough is enough. The game is over,’ Iran ex-PM tells leadership
- Mir Hossein Mousavi: ‘Put down your gun and step down from power so that the nation itself can lead this land to freedom and prosperity’
- Mousavi claimed to have won the 2009 presidential elections against incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, arguing that the hard-liner’s victory was rigged
PARIS: Iran’s former prime minister Mir Hossein Mousavi, who was the focus of a 2009 mass protest movement sparked by disputed presidential elections, on Thursday urged the clerical leadership to step down after the “crime” of its deadly crackdown on protests.
“In what language should the people say that they do not want this system and do not believe your lies? Enough is enough. The game is over,” said Mousavi, who has since 2011 been under house arrest, in a statement shared by his Kalame media outlet.
Mousavi claimed to have won the 2009 presidential elections against incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, arguing that the hard-liner’s victory was rigged and sparking vast protest rallies in his support known as the Green Movement.
In his statement, Mousavi said the crackdown on protests this month — seen as the biggest such movement in Iran since those 2009 giant rallies — was a “black page in the history of our nation” and a “great betrayal and a crime.”
Rights groups have verified thousands of deaths but fear tens of thousands could have been killed in total by security forces.
Mousavi said Iranians would have “no choice” but to protest again and security forces “will sooner or later refuse to take the burden” of suppressing the movement.
“Put down your gun and step down from power so that the nation itself can lead this land to freedom and prosperity,” he said.
With Washington not ruling out military strikes in the wake of the crackdown, Mousavi said “a constitutional referendum” should be held and also made clear he opposed “foreign intervention.”
Mousavi was prime minister from 1981 to 1989 under the presidency of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who became the Islamic republic’s supreme leader after the death of revolutionary founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Even in the 80s, Khamenei was long seen as a rival of Mousavi with the then premier regarded as a more moderate figure within the system.
One of few key figures to hold power in the 1980s without being a cleric, Mousavi was the last to serve as premier, a post which was scrapped in Iran’s revised constitution after Khomeini’s death.
“In what language should the people say that they do not want this system and do not believe your lies? Enough is enough. The game is over,” said Mousavi, who has since 2011 been under house arrest, in a statement shared by his Kalame media outlet.
Mousavi claimed to have won the 2009 presidential elections against incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, arguing that the hard-liner’s victory was rigged and sparking vast protest rallies in his support known as the Green Movement.
In his statement, Mousavi said the crackdown on protests this month — seen as the biggest such movement in Iran since those 2009 giant rallies — was a “black page in the history of our nation” and a “great betrayal and a crime.”
Rights groups have verified thousands of deaths but fear tens of thousands could have been killed in total by security forces.
Mousavi said Iranians would have “no choice” but to protest again and security forces “will sooner or later refuse to take the burden” of suppressing the movement.
“Put down your gun and step down from power so that the nation itself can lead this land to freedom and prosperity,” he said.
With Washington not ruling out military strikes in the wake of the crackdown, Mousavi said “a constitutional referendum” should be held and also made clear he opposed “foreign intervention.”
Mousavi was prime minister from 1981 to 1989 under the presidency of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who became the Islamic republic’s supreme leader after the death of revolutionary founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Even in the 80s, Khamenei was long seen as a rival of Mousavi with the then premier regarded as a more moderate figure within the system.
One of few key figures to hold power in the 1980s without being a cleric, Mousavi was the last to serve as premier, a post which was scrapped in Iran’s revised constitution after Khomeini’s death.
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